Chief Cook and Bottle Washer by Rita Hestand

uptight. It's just been
hard these past few months. And I should have told you about Sammie
Jo to begin with. In fact I need to tell you ..."
    "It'll hold Emma, we'll talk later." He
winked.
    He was reassuring her, and it took her by
surprise. She hadn't expected such understanding, considering she'd
practically lied to the man about being Sammie Jo's mother. Of
course he didn't know everything yet. And hopefully by the time he
did, it wouldn't matter. She'd be gone by then. Although why that
thought didn't make her feel better she wasn't sure. "It should be
ready soon." She tried to smile. "Do you want to eat now or
later?"
    Lying didn't set well with Emma. She had the
urge to make him sit down and explain the whole thing to him.
    If he fired her, what would she do? Where
would she go from here? No, for now she'd better just hold her
tongue and wait.
    Sammie Jo gurgled and Deke winked down at
her. "Later. The boys will probably be here as soon as the smell
reaches the bunkhouse. Most of them are heavy coffee drinkers, up
at the crack of dawn. Comes from the long hours in the saddle I
guess."
    "And your brothers?"
    Deke frowned. "They'll drift in, but don't
you worry about them. If they aren't here with the rest of the men,
then don't cater to them and fix them a hot breakfast. Jake will be
here in a few minutes, but Rusty and Clint sleep in till the last
minute. Don't coddle 'em. You start that and you'll be doing it
from here on out."
    "Oh I won't. I think I mentioned I had
brothers too. And I certainly never coddled them." Emma chuckled.
"As soon as my old man turned me loose with the spatula I told my
brothers if they weren't there when it was ready, they were too
late. And it worked."
    "Sounds like you know what you're doing.
Well, I'll be back soon, I've got a sick cow to check on and then
I'll be in." Deke informed her, giving Sammie Jo another glance.
"If you need anything Dad's always around the place somewhere."
    "What's wrong with her?" Emma glanced up from
the stove.
    "Who?"
    "The sick cow?" she asked not able to keep
her concern out of her voice.
    "Colic I expect." Her question seemed to take
him by surprise. "Several ranchers in the area have complained with
the same thing. I think we got a bad load of grain last month. It
shouldn't happen again though, I've ordered my grain from a
different supplier. Ordinarily we'd have our own grain, but we've
had drought problems this year and there simply wasn't enough to go
around. If we'd a got that irrigation system in we'd be set, but
that's neither here nor there."
    "Have you called the vet?" Emma asked.
    "Yeah, he'll be out shortly, and I'll
probably be close to the house most of the day." He gave her a
slight smile, his eyes traveling lazily over her. The smile
suddenly faded to a slight frown. "Where'd you say you were
from?"
    "Up around Greenville. My dad's got a small
spread. Nothing to compare to this."
    "I can't imagine you leaving there. That's
real pretty country. Wasn't he willing to lend a hand with the
kid?"
    Emma turned beet red. How could she explain
her father to anyone. She didn't understand him herself. "My father
doesn't like children, especially girls."
    She wanted to slap her hand over her mouth as
soon as she'd said that, but it was too late, and Deke had heard
every word of it, from the looks of his frown. His gaze traveled
over her again and he nodded. "I see. Well, I'll just take a cup of
coffee with me out to the barn."
    "All right, see you later, then." Emma
glanced down at herself and wondered what the frown was all about.
Perhaps he expected her to wear a dress. She hadn't given her
wardrobe a second thought.
    But from the looks of things, Deke had. He
shot her a long glance over his shoulder again then headed out the
back door.
    She had no time to wonder when Sammie Jo
spilled her orange juice, Emma quickly wiped it from the floor and
set her in the highchair once more, this time locking and
tightening the belt. Once she was satisfied, she